Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokesman Mike Wynn said Department of Corrections Commissioner Jim Erwin and Operations Director Chris Kleymeyer were fired on Friday. He did not say why the men were dismissed. The cabinet named Deputy Justice Secretary Jon Grate as the acting commissioner.

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Erwin has worked at the Department of Corrections since 1985. He has been a warden or deputy warden at four prisons and has been an administrator since 2007. He became commissioner in 2017 when former Commissioner Rodney Ballard resigned to pursue a job in the private sector.

Kleymeyer has been operations director since 2013, when he retired from the U.S. Army after a 30-year career.